This invention relates generally to packaging, and is more particularly directed to containers for beverages or the like, e.g., soft drink bottles or beer bottles. More specifically, the invention is concerned with containers having integral interconnective means for forming a multi-pack cluster of the containers without requiring any paper, paperboard, plastic film or other additional packaging material to form the multi-pack cluster.
Beverages, foods and other products have long been sold as individual containers packaged together in a multi-pack sales unit, such as the popular six-pack or twenty-four bottle case. These clusters are typically held together with paper, cardboard, cellophane, or plastic film packaging material. Usually, this must be torn to remove the individual bottles and the packaging material must be discarded. Thus, the packaging material constitutes a source of waste and litter, as well as an additional manufacturing or packaging cost.
Recently, several states have enacted so-called "Bottle-Bill" legislation, under which the consumer pays a deposit (typically five cents) for each bottle or container of soft drink or beer, and a merchant or recycle center returns this deposit when the consumer brings in the cleaned, empty containers. Typically, the containers must be grouped according to brand for cost accounting purposes. The bottle returns are then sent back to the beer or soft drink distributor, and are eventually refilled (for some glass bottles) or broken up for scrap (for steel and aluminum cans, one-way glass bottles, and plastic bottles).
Handling and temporary storage of the empty returnables has thus presented problems for the consumer, the merchant, and the distributor.
A number of attempts have been made to package beverages and the like to facilitate clustering the full or empty containers. Jennison U.S. Pat. No. 4,165,812 relates to milk containers with male and female connections, and which snap together to form a cluster of four bottles. Wells et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,003,491 relates to interconnectable cans, bottles, and the like with alternate ribs and recesses that permit a cluster of the containers to be snapped together. Other interlockable container systems have also been proposed, e.g. in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,139,114 and 3,994,408. However these employ a snap lock system, and none uses or suggests a slide-lock interconnection system; consequently, the integrity of a cluster or multi-pack is less than acceptable for commercial handling and distribution purposes. Further, none of these prior proposals provides a useful handle to facilitate lifting a multi-pack cluster in either the full or empty state.